


Firebirds and Shadowcats

by secretlyasummers



Category: Excalibur (Comic), X-Men (Comicverse), X-Men - All Media Types
Genre: Excalibur, F/F, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-21
Updated: 2018-04-21
Packaged: 2019-04-25 18:15:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,752
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14384295
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/secretlyasummers/pseuds/secretlyasummers
Summary: A collection of only tangentially related snips about Kitty Pryde and Rachel Summers.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place somewhere in the Alan Davis Excalibur run.

 

“Have you seen my heels?”

Kitty looked up from her screen, minimizing the window. “What, Ray?”

Rachel Summers rolled her eyes and gestured vaguely around. “My shoes, kiddo. Have you seen them?”

Kitty didn’t stand up. “Wouldn’t they be with the rest of your costume? It’s tight enough that I’m pretty sure you couldn’t take them off.”

“Not the costume heels – besides, telekinesis making clothing a lot easier – my normal person shoes.”

“I’m pretty sure that label doesn’t apply to either of us, Ray.” Kitty turned off the laptop and turned around in her chair. “Why do you need it anyway? We’re in a lighthouse. It’s not like the nightlife is great out here.”

Rachel shrugged. “I like to know where my stuff is? I don’t have a lot, kiddo. I try not to lose them.”

“Um, I might have kind of sort of borrowed them?” Kitty shrugged awkwardly. “Maybe?”

“What?”

“I took them?”

Rachel was clearly annoyed. Shrugging off the red leather coat, she sat down on Kitty’s bed. “Okay, you have to tell me this story.”

“Don’t mock, okay?

“I am by no means going to make that promise.”

“Rachel!”

“Tell me. C’mon!”

Kitty buried her head in her hands for a moment. “Okay, okay.” She looked up, still slouched. “So, um, Courtney Ross, Cap’s friend, she invited me out to London. And I realized that I didn’t have any clothes fit for the occasion, so I borrowed your shoes.”

“You still haven’t answered my question.”

“Okay! Okay. So, I took some of your clothes—”

Rachel laughed, “Kiddo, I’m like you and a half. There isn’t a way for that ever to work.”

Kitty was flushed red. “I know! I know that _now_! It was loose in all of the wrong places, but it’s not like I have lots of other options, okay? I bought most of my stuff when the only person I was hanging out with was Storm, and Ororo has some very different clothing choices.”

“Okay, okay, I get it. Come on.”

“I know . . .” Kitty shook her head. “So, I put on the shoes, and I tried to walk down the stairs. And, um, I kindafellthroughthestairs? And through the floor?”

“Kitty?”

“Rachel?”

“Are my shoes currently stuck underground?”

She looked up, and put her hands down. “Yeah.”

Rachel sighed. “You stuck my shoes. Underground.”

“And maybe lost them?”

“Kitty, how do you even do that?”

She somehow flushed an even deeper red. Dark phoenix costume red. “Underground is big, okay? I sorta panicked?”

“Come on, Kitty, this is like the one thing I asked you to not to do. Don’t take my stuff.”

“I know! I know, okay. It was a dumb mistake, but it’s not that big a deal. I’ll get Kurt to take me into town and buy you new shoes.”

Rachel stood up in a huff. “It shouldn’t be that hard for you to not destroy my stuff. Come on! How hard is it to not lose my stuff underground? This isn’t even a thing I should have to ask you.”

“It’s not that big a deal, Ray!” Kitty walked over to the bed, and sat down next to Rachel. “They’re shoes, not the Death Star plans. Relax.”

“The what? It doesn’t matter. I told you, I don’t own a lot of things. You shouldn’t take them!”

Kitty shook her head. “I don’t get it, Ray. I’m sorry, okay! I told you I’m sorry. But they’re shoes. It’s not a big deal. People borrow other people’s shoes! That’s something that happens. I should have asked, but I’ll fix it.”

“You don’t understand.” Rachel didn’t meet Kitty’s eyes. “It’s not just the shoes, kiddo.”

“Tell me, then!”

Rachel shook her head, and stood up. She grabbed her coat, and started to make her way to the door, till Kitty grabbed her arm. “Ray, tell me! I don’t understand.”

Rachel spun and meandered slowly around the room. “Kitty, I don’t . . .”

“Please.”

“I grew up in a concentration camp in the future, Kitty. It’s . . . listen, do you know why I don’t talk to Angel? I Because I knew him, back, back where I’m from. He helped me in the first harsh couple years, before they . . .” She sat down again. “I watched him die. And I didn’t have anything, there, Kitty. Nothing. Not in the mansion, either. I just took mom’s old stuff . . . I’m sorry.”

Kitty scooted back over next to her. “Rachel, I didn’t know. I won’t – I’ll fix it, I promise. I want you to be happy. We all do.”

“No, I shouldn’t have freaked out.” Rachel moved closer to her. “I am happy, I love being here, with Cap and Meggan and Kurt, and, and with you. I just, its, how things are now doesn’t change how things were. And how things were, I mean, I . . .” She trailed off.

Kitty grabbed her hand. “It’s okay, Rachel. It’s okay.”

Psychic flame fared from Rachel’s hands. “Kittycat . . .” She leaned a little closer, brushing her ponytail backwards.

“I . . .” Kitty leaned close as well, then quickly stood up. “I’m going to find Kurt, get you new shoes. Okay. I’ll make this better. I promise.”

Rachel sat there as Kitty left, wringing her hands together. “Right. Yeah.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again. Don't take these as connected bar thematic similarities.

“Is this guy for real?”

Kitty looked at Rachel from the corner of her eye. “I think so? I’m going to be honest, I expected a little bit more when they gave us the call.”

The green supervillain leapt from car to car, almost comedic bags of money in his hand, looted from a wrecked armored car.

“The Leap-Frog?” Rachel tried to suppress a smile. “Seriously? What does he have the power of, jumping?”

Kitty motioned towards the road, and Rachel telekinetically lifted the two of them. “I dunno, Ray. Isn’t there a frog that is also a Thor? Maybe he’s got that frog’s powers?”

“Wouldn’t it be easier to just get the powers of normal Thor?”

“Hey,” Kitty shrugged, “I’m just trying to figure out what sort of person theme’s their criminal schemes after a _frog_.”

“It is the least intimidating animal, that is true.”

Rachel waved a hand and extended a burst of telekinetic flame to knock away a car that the villain had thrown. “That just seems unfair,” she complained. “When have you ever seen a superstrong frog? Thematic consistency is important. I use bird motifs and fire motifs, not, like, swimming ones.”

Kitty scoffed as a chunk of metal phased through her. “Maybe it’s the proportional strength and speed of a frog?”

“I don’t think that’s any stronger. Actually, I don’t think frogs have any sort of exceptional abilities, except jumping.”

“C’mon, Ray. He clearly has that down.”

“Well yes, I can see that.” Rachel swatted down a piece of metal, breaking it into shards. “But still, Spider-Man doesn’t have a trademark on spiders, and they jump too.”

“Is ‘the Leap-Spider’ any better?”

“The name could use some workshopping, I can admit that.”

Kitty rolled her eyes. “Can we finish this, Ray?”

“Sure thing, kiddo. Any ideas, or should I just hit him?”

“Well . . .” Kitty cocked her head and looked inquisitively for a moment. “You wanna pull a page from Logan’s playbook?”

Rachel’s aura of fire flared. “One fastball special coming up, then.” A claw of psychic fire extended from Rachel’s hand, and grasped Shadowcat, propelling her forward at high speed. Kitty passed effortlessly through the metal pieces that Leap-Frog threw, until Kitty, rolling her eyes, passed through the electronic exoskeleton. Sparking and whirring, Leap-Frog collapsed to the ground, while Kitty climbed back to her feet.

“There. Obnoxious thief in a robot frog-suit, all dealt with. Is that thematically consistent enough, Ray?”

Phoenix hovered to the ground, dismissing the firey aura that surrounded her. “Well, I still don’t see what going through things has anything to do with cats. I still like Sprite.”

The bobbies and STRIKE dealt with the villain as the two heroines wandered off. “What’s wrong with Shadowcat? I like Shadowcat.”

Rachel rolled her eyes. “What does it even mean, though? There isn’t even such a thing as a shadowcat, and it’s not like your powers involve cats. Or shadows.”

“It sounds very ninja-y! You know: ‘watch out, fellow evil-doer. The _Shadowcat_ is here.’”

“Definitely, that’s the sort of image that you project. When I think of what scares a cowardly superstitious lot, I think teenage girls with a sash and poofy sleeves.”

Kitty pouted. “I think you just hate cats.”

“What?” Rachel shook her head and telekinetically took the two of them airborne again. “I have nothing against cats! I don’t love them, but I don’t _hate_ them or anything. They’re number . . . eight. My eighth favorite animal.”

“Eighth? What are the other seven?”

“What? I just picked a number.” Rachel pulled up above the cloud layer, heating them both with psychic fire. “You can’t seriously expect me to actually have picked my top eight animals?”

“Cats. Dogs. Koalas. Elephants. Hedgehogs. Baby seals (not adult seals). Penguins. Hummingbirds.”

“Okay, first of all, elephants shouldn’t be that high on the list, and second of all, that’s strange.”

“What’s strange about that?”

“You own a bedazzled shirt that says bitch* and have a list of top eight cutest animals on demand. And want to be a ninja. That’s not exactly a common combination.”

Kitty sat back as Rachel carried the both of them back through the air. “Okay, well, I’m also getting flown through the air by a girl from the future, so yeah, common wasn’t in the cards.”   

“Okay, okay. You’re right, Kittycat. Complaints are duly revoked.”

“Thank you.”

They flew in silence for a moment.

“Well, I don’t love love cats.” Rachel interjected. “They’re not that great.”

“Seriously?” Kitty

“They’re angry little rats, but with hair on their tails. You can’t tame them, really, and they just do stuff for themselves. And, angry. They’re some very angry creatures.”

“I don’t think you get animals,” Kitty said.

“They are better than frogs, at least.”

“Are you still hung up on the Leap-Frog guy?”

“Yes, Kitty, I am. It doesn’t make sense! What sort of frog has super-strength? It should by no means this complicated to learn how frogs work. What next, is Daredevil going to be rocking a halo? Should the Wasp start to shoot fire?”

“Maybe it will encourage more creative costuming?”

Rachel started diving down to the lighthouse. “That’s optimistic.”

“You should be!”

“By the way, there is one exception to the anti-cat rule.”

Kitty rolled her eyes. “What, Ray?”

Rachel just smirked.

-

*That’s canon!

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Feel free to drop a comment!


End file.
